A Need for Cohesive Counter-Narcotics Policy
I. Introduction
The illicit opiate market is a flexible one that is capable of avoiding any limitation on its profitability. This makes it difficult to tailor an effective policy response. Because of globalized trade and the ability for players within the market to take on more than one role, any counter-narcotics policy geared toward one specific region and/or portion of the illicit opiate market, such as production in Afghanistan, will be ineffective because of the market’s ability to adapt to such counternarcotic policies by shifting positions and avoiding any limitation on its profitability. The key to licit and illicit business is profit. As long as the illicit opiate market is a profitable one with a higher financial gain, and lower risk than any licit market, the illicit opiate market will continue to consume all participating and non-participating regions.
Any reduction wanted within the illicit opiate market must start with a cohesive policy to truly be effective in minimizing its profitability. The word cohesive plays two roles in the previous statement: cohesive in regards to the implementation of a counter-narcotics policy by those states currently affected, and soon to be affected, by the illicit opiate market; and cohesive in regards to the implementation of a counter-narcotics policy that attempts to impact all levels of the illicit opiate market, from the supplying level, to the demand level, to the financing level in an evenly distributed manner. In other words, for the profitability of this mass network to suffer, any threat to it must be a threat to the entire network, by all those wanting to threaten that network. And the main goal behind any threat should be to increase the risks, and decrease any gains for those participating in the illicit opiate market enough to limit the financial lucrativeness of that market.
But the key to the illicit opiate market is the flexibility of it. And so the policies themselves must be just as flexible. The dedication by member states in solving this problem requires long term commitment. However, long term policies unable to flexibly adjust with the market are a mistake. This is because if the policies in place are unable to move just as quick, and be just as flexible as the market, the policy will not have the capability of preventing the market from adapting and maintaining its profitability.
The devastating effects around the world as a result of this resilient market call for a change in our counter-narcotics policies. Supply reducing policies, such as eradicating poppy plants, have proven to be a failure.[1] Today we need counter-narcotics policies that give the necessary deterrence, incentives, competing licit industries, finances put to the actual infrastructure of the countries involved, and assistance in helping these under-developed agriculturally driven countries to exploit their licit resources, all so that the want/need to conduct themselves illicitly is no longer there. The goal is to attack the market as a whole, (suppliers, traffickers, and consumers), by those who are currently affected, and those who can potentially be affected, while also making the licit market less of a risk, more financially lucrative, and easier to exploit for those involved.
In this paper I am going to discuss the commodities involved in the illicit opiate market, specifically within the heroin market, and the players involved in the production, manufacture, trade, and/or use/consumption of those commodities. I am also going to discuss the effects the market has had on today’s society. These effects are devastating, and on a path of epidemic proportions. This paper will show that the market is flexible, adaptable, and resilient. However, the current death grip the illicit opiate market has on today’s society can be alleviated when the business is riskier, no longer as profitable, and has competing businesses that no longer make participation in that market the best option.
II. The Flexibility of the Illicit Opiate Market[2]
From a business perspective, the flexibility of the illicit opiate market is quite beautiful. When one considers the resiliency that is necessary for the illicit opiate market to adapt and overcome obstacles, which have been placed along the way by national and international agencies to eliminate the market, and the market’s continued ability to maintain tremendous profitability, one cannot help but be impressed. In fact, the illicit opiate market has achieved an impressive feat not achieved by most licit industries with fewer obstacles.
To understand the flexibility of the illicit opiate market, an understanding of the commodities being sold and who is selling them is necessary. Once an understanding of the commodities that are sold within the market is established, the roles played by those involved in distributing those commodities is easier to understand since, all states play multiple roles within the market because of the commodities involved. This foundation is necessary before you can really foresee when and what players will shift positions within the market to avoid any limitation on the market’s profitability. The purpose of this section is to explain the commodities of the illicit opiate market, with specific emphasis on the heroin market, and the countries involved in the production, manufacture, trade, and/or use/consumption of those commodities.
A. What’s for Sale: Commodities within the Illicit Opiate Market
When I first began studying the illicit opiate market, I was completely unaware of the fact that heroin did not come from poppy the way apples come from apple trees. In fact, all I knew was that there was a poppy plant, and that heroin was “the most widely consumed illicit opiate in the world.”[3] What I found out was that there were opium,[4] opium alkaloids,[5] acetic anhydride,[6] morphine,[7] and heroin,[8] all being traded within the illicit opiate market;[9] this was essential to understanding how the market could consistently adapt to counternarcotic policies, or even environmental issues, and maintain profitability.
The foundation of the market itself is the poppy plant scientifically known as Papaver Somniferum L.[10] Without that poppy plant none of the illicit opiate market commodities can be made or used. Although there are many varieties of the poppy plant, including thebaine-rich varieties like the “Norman,”[11] Papaver Somniferum L. is the most commonly cultivated poppy plant for the illicit production of opium because of its high levels of morphine.[12]
The poppy plant is able to grow in any ecological habitat; whether or not that habitat is mountainous, flat, cold, hot, irrigated, or not irrigated.[13] This is important because it shows the market’s ability to shift production sites, regardless of the site’s topography, making counternarcotic policies focused on supply reduction in current producing areas less likely to have any long term effect on the market.
And because the plant itself is drought resistant, its ability to survive in environments such as Afghanistan, make it a much more financially safe crop to cultivate than other licit crops that are not as sustainable.[14] The extreme weather, lack of infrastructure, and lack of irrigation in most participating regions, make licit crops, such as wheat, a financial risk to cultivate as compared to poppy crops. These factors reduce the counter-narcotics policies’ long term effectiveness when attempting to replace the poppy crop with licit crops.
The opium gum[15] produced by the poppy plant is a nonperishable commodity.[16] Therefore, if the market were to overproduce opium, instead of oversaturating the market with this supply, the nonperishable commodity could be stored. Furthermore, because the illicit opiate market’s supply is constantly being affected by either counternarcotic policies, and/or environmental issues such as drought, the market’s ability to adapt to a loss in supply by accessing the stored supply allows it to continuously feed its demand, also maintaining its profitability.
Alternatively, you could take secret drugs lords like the CIA out of the picture by legalising and regulating the drugs trade. But why go for simple, logical solutions when you can undermine the world though an interconnected network of drugs, oil and weapons trade?
Not that simple. To license Afghanistan for the licit manufacture of opiate pharmaceuticals, or at least the licit cultivation of poppy for other countries to manufacture those pharmaceuticals, two things would need to be done. As of now the cultivation, manufacture, export, and import of licit opiates is regulated by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). Afghanistan would first have to show that there is a demand for licit opiates, and second, that it could supply that demand without creating an oversupply of licit opiates. The point being, the INCB wants to make sure the medical field is supplied, but does not want an oversupply to leak into the illicit field.
Today, the INCB does not find a need for licit opiates, and instead finds an oversupply of licit opiates. Furthermore, the leading importer of licit opiates, the U.S., is contractually obligated to purchase its opiates from seven specific countries. As of now, the main argument involves having Afghanistan gain entrance into that contractual agreement with the U.S., which will not happen. And the counter-argument for that, which is why it will not happen, is that Afghanistan lacks the security for such a business venture.
Although I am stating the facts for you, based on a licit business argument, my next article will focus on Afghanistan being licensed. What should be noted, which is the main point of the above article, is that even if Afghanistan were to be licensed, that temporary fix would not have any long-term negative effect on the actual heroin market as a whole.
Thank you for your comment.
Amen to that Neo.
For further clarification, the way the system works, the United Nations, under the INCB, would have to approve this business venture. Until the correct argument is made, Afghanistan will continue to provide for the illicit market, not the licit market. And, as stated above, even if Afghanistan were to provide for the licit market, do not underestimate the potential of the heroin market to adapt to such tactics. It will, and has. Its ability to maintain profitability keeps it afloat, and such a quick fix will only affect Afghanistan, not the global market as a hole.
*whole.
Seems the sure way to make opium less profitable as a commodity have an oversupply of it. I know corn is not profitable to grow without government subsidies. There would need to be aggressive media on the dangers of heroin and super easy access to treatment along with this strategy. Heroin is not going to be a mainstream drug no matter what, the stories of it’s destructiveness are pretty much out there. A bigger problem by far is prescription opiates.
Treating drug addiction as a social problem rather than a criminal one would effectively destroy the trade.
The U.S. could start by legalizing marijuana. And medicinal marijuana would be a good substitute in many/most cases for prescription opiates. And we could go from there.
Legalizing marijuana I am likely to favor however, there would be massive economic consequences. Mexico’s main oil field is slowing down and cheap corn via NAFTA put many Mexican farmer out of work. The money from pot is a significant part of the economy there. Plus all the small time traffickers and dealers would be out of luck and keep in mind these lucrative jobs keep opening up for new people as law in enforcement takes folks out of the work force.
I fear what commercialization would do to. Industries are already great at getting people to eat loads of sugar, fat and salt and drinking alcohol. Do we really want businesses to be trying to ever increase their sales of pot while denying the real and common side effects of weight gain from increased appetite and lack of motivation? Because I can see that happening.
I don’t really see any down side to legalizing marijuana. Legalizing it in Mexico, as former President Fox just suggested doing, would help eliminate a violent black market and open up legitimate jobs. Weight gain is a dietary and exercise problem, not caused by smoking pot. and I think it’s an absolute myth that smoking pot causes people to lose their motivation. A lot of lazy people smoke pot. Pot doesn’t make them that way.
Hi Liana
This is wonderfully written.
May I suggest you research the false war on drugs when it was decided
that the CIA would let this be taken over by the new agency called DEA?
Many agents were called in 24 hours to halt their operations.
Then research the so-called drug lord Khun Sa, who was the Golden Triangle
connection. Living larger than life in the Shan mountains with three goverment’s protection. Burma Thailand and USA.
When The DEA put the heat on Burma to start the eradication of the poppy.
They did so reluctantly. There was a promise of assistance, which never came
good agents being sent back to the states, and keeping the Burmese at bay
by carrot and stick threats. While most poppy was being eradicated in accord with the USA wishes, Along comes 9-11 the mother of all wishes to come true.
Now America could get the prices up to snuff and that road from the fields to the cities back to higher yield and profits. With gangsters and drug dealers
as elected officials, and the brother of Afghan president, appointed by the USA
as a bank thief, the new world order of drugs came into play.
While American men and woman died in Afghanistan protecting what?
The career of lawyers who keep the wheel greased in drug cases in courts
through out the USA, and the public companies were building more prisons
to feed small town America’s economy, from the kids dealing on the streets
of inner cities. We were told that the poor Muslim people did not know how
to farm food? Look this is the industrial jobs complex.
First profits are from sales., then there is the Rockerfeller, lead, Methadone
program for addicts, then the 25 years to life sentences for courts and prisons
and the broken families left behind. Prisons get built. farmers sell meat
guards are hired, and you keep the wheel going. Lawyers and courts
make the wheel go round too So there will never be an honest discussion
nor termination of drug in or out of America. By us being in Afghaniland
we have allowed the poppy to yields of 4000% Its a business on one side
its the defense contract, on the other its purported to be assisting in freedom
for the poor people of Afghanistan
Peter Dale Scott’s “American War Machine” is an excellent resource on these matters.
It’s difficult to exercise any control on the narcotics trade when those doing the controlling wear both the “black” and “white” hats. They’ve set this up like they’ve set up US elections: no matter which way you vote, we’ll be led to the same sorry place: the paths look different but the Destination is the same. Speaking of, someone at FPJ may want to take a gander at the Director of National Intelligence’s Destination 2025 papers. It’s the roadmap for our future: global governance.